Mega - Tsunami

"… An eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma … was likely to cause a massive chunk of rock to break off, crashing into the sea and kicking up huge walls of water higher than any other in recorded history."
- Susan Sclachter.


A mega – tsunami is simply gigantic wave, one big enough to across oceans and destroy cities. Next mega –tsunami hot – spot is a Cumbre Vieja volcanoes on La Palma Island, near Canary Island. According to scientist, another eruption could cause the western flank of the island to collapse in the Atlantic Ocean. The collapse would create nearly 5,000,000,000,000,000 (5 thousand trillion) joules of kinetic energy, which would converted into a colossal wave 900 meter high with awesome speed – within ten minutes it would have moved 250 kilometer. Dr. Simon Day, who works at Benfield Greig Hazards Research Center, University College London says;

"If volcano collapsed in one block of almost 20 cubic kilometers of rock, weighing 500 billion tones – twice the size of the Isle of Wright – it would fall into water almost 4 miles deep and create an underwater wave 2000 feet tall. Within five minutes of the landslide, a dome of water about a mile high would form and then collapse, before Mega Tsunami fanned out in every direction, traveling at speeds of up to 500 mph. a 330 ft wave would strike Western Sahara in less than an hour."

Some source said that the energy released by the collapse would be equal to the electricity consumption of the entire United States in half a year. What damage would it cause? No coastline in the North Atlantic would be spared. Britain, France, Spain and Portugal would all badly hit. However, the real damage would be to the East coast of the United States. By time it had traveled the 4000 miles to America the wave would be lower and wider. It would now be just 50 meters high but many kilometers long, allowing it to sweep up to 20 miles inland, destroying everything in its path. Boston, New York and Miami virtually be wiped off the map. And virtually every human in these cities would be killed.
"Million would be killed. It’s not a question of if Cumbre Vieja collapse, it’s simply a question of when." Explain Dr. Day.

FAQ about Mega Tsunami, courtesy by BBC

Further Reading
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/mega_tsunami.shtml
http://armageddononline.tripod.com/tsunamis.htm